We've transitioned to the CRIB!

I have been dreading the day that we would eventually transition Charlotte into her crib in her own room. Since the day she was born she has slept by my side and I couldn't bear the thought of her not being there anymore. And secretly that meant too that when she transitioned she really was growing up! :(

She has started to out grow her bassinet and would wake herself up by kicking the bottom or if she would bust out of her swaddle her arms would hit the sides. I hated to see her so uncomfortable so I knew it had to be soon that we transitioned.

I've been trying to put her down in her crib for naps during the day (when we are home during nap time). We've always been on the go and she would nap in her carseat or I would have her in her swing in the living room (she's obsessed!) But I knew for her to become comfortable sleeping in crib at night, we had to start somewhere.. nap time. But she just wouldn't do it. For about two weeks, I would try for at least her morning nap to put her down in there and then BOOM she would wake up and cry. So then I'd start the process over of rocking her to sleep and then trying again. Sometimes I would just give up and put her in her swing because I knew that would work and the poor girl needed to nap.

So this Friday night rolled around and Friday night was going to be THE NIGHT. Whether she was ready or not... we were going to try her crib for night time. So I took the bumpers off of her crib.





Playing in her crib before bath & pjs.. I LOVE this picture. She's my little acrobat.

Hey Mom, we're really going to do this?

We did bath time, lotion, baby massage, read some books, swaddled and nursed and then we were ready for it... bed time! I rocked her to sleep and she drifted off to dream land...

Sleeping peacefully in her crib

After staring at the monitor for a good 2 hours before I headed bed, I felt like I was ready for myself to fall asleep. I checked on her a few times and then decided to rest. Before I realized it, I woke up 5 hours later and she was still asleep!! Charlotte ended up sleeping a total of 10 hours that first night and only woke up once to eat. I was able to get her back down in her crib for the 2nd and last stretch. The next morning I had one happy baby and I was one happy mama.

My sweet BIG girl and me!

 





Trip to Cajun Country

We've been wanting to bring Charlotte to Lafayette, Louisiana for awhile now. All of Drew's family lives there and they have been waiting patiently to meet Miss C. With the holidays around the corner after her birth, we haven't been able to schedule anything until now.

We woke up early Saturday and started the 4 hour drive. We arrived soon after lunch and went straight to Drew's Grandfather's house. Pop was so excited to meet Charlotte! He had just gotten back from Abu Dhabi and they gave her the cutest little stuffed camel and a Hard Rock Dubai shirt :) We ate lunch and just sat around visiting while they held Charlotte. She was very fussy from the car ride but after a nap snuggled up with me she was much happier.

Pop with Charlotte... her ONLY Great Grandfather



After visiting with Pop all afternoon, we headed over to Drew's Aunt & Uncle's house to visit with the Dueitt side of the family. Drew's cousin, Jake and his wife Heidi had baby Jude 3 weeks before Charlotte was born. It was soooo fun to get these little cousins together! Drew's cousin, Jett and his wife Angelle are expecting a baby girl in July so we were thrilled to give them hugs & words of excited encouragement on the soon arrival of a new girl cousin! Charlotte will have so much fun at family gatherings from now on with all these little cousins her age :)

 

Charlotte and Jude

We stayed with Drew's cousin, Laci and her husband Chris and their son Ryler. Ryler turned 2 in December and was IN LOVE with Charlotte! When she would fuss or cry he would pat her little cheek and say "It's okay Baby Charlotte." He also kept saying her name..."Charlotte Grace...Charlotte Grace" but it mostly sounded like "Charwhat Gwace." :)

Ryler and C..such a great big cousin!





We woke up Sunday and headed over to Drew's Grandmother's house. We ate breakfast, sat around and of course played with C. Gro-Mom loved Charlotte and it was special to introduce her to her THIRD Great-Grandmother.

Charlotte and her Third Great-Grandmother

We had a great short trip to LA! Can't wait to go back!











C's new activity!

My sweet mother in law sent Charlotte this adorable jumperoo today. She LOVES it!! A new fun activity for this big girl to sit up in.

Mama this is FUN!



Happy Valentine's Day!

My little Love

We celebrated today by having a play date at my friend Heather's house. We ate lunch, played and had a little photoshoot for her company Mon Petit Tresors

My little model

 

 Drew came home with these GORGEOUS dozen long stemmed roses for me and Charlotte and Lupe Tortilla to-go. We are some lucky ladies!

Gorgeous!

My two Valentine's... they sure have my heart!

What a wonderful day we had! My heart is FULL. Charlotte's first Valentine's has been full of love. Hope all of you had an amazing love-filled day!

Charlotte rolls over!

This video was taken when we were in Corpus (see below post!) Charlotte had rolled over once before but I never got it on video.. this time I did. Sorry for me and my sister's annoying voices in the background... :)

South Texas Mini Vacation

Last Thursday, Charlotte and I hit the road and headed south to Drew and my hometown, Corpus Christi. We LOVE going to visit to see family and friends and we knew that this would be the perfect weekend to travel because so much was going on.

We arrived on Thursday and went straight to my sister's house. We unloaded everything and got ready for dinner. I met my good friends Natalie & Heather at a local sushi place. I hadn't had sushi since before I was pregnant... WOW... it was AMAZING! I didn't realize how much I had missed it until that first taste. Charlotte was a little fussy from the 3 hour car ride earlier that day but she was glad to see her "aunts." :)



Charlotte & Aunt Natalie

Friday was spent all day with my good friend Lizzie. She and I have known each other since high school and her baby was born in December and she is only 5 weeks younger than Charlotte. We've been on a constant text back and forth since her sweet girl, Genevieve, arrived talking non-stop about babies so it was so fun to get together in person and hang with our littles. We also did a little bit of shopping at some of our local baby boutiques and ate lunch at a CC hotspot, The Surf Club! Ahhh how I had missed their shrimp!

 

Already holding hands!

This is so fun Ginny!

Future BFFS :)

Backseat babes

Baby Bjorns

Saturday was a JAM packed day! It started with breakfast with my dear friend Kylie, her 5 month old little girl Annie and her 2 year old little boy Charlie. All I can say is that it was WILD!! At one point Charlie was under the table, and both babies were crying. Life has definitely changed since our normal hang outs, but all for the better. Kylie and I have known each other since high school as well. It's so fun to be reconnecting with some of my gals now that we are all mamas.. I just wish SO BADLY that we all lived in the same city :(

Kylie and me and our girls



After breakfast, Charlotte and I quickly headed over to the Carroll high school baseball field. This is Drew's old stomping grounds. For those of you who are Corpus Christians... Drew and I went to rival high schools. Carroll was King's HUGE rival and I never felt comfortable going over there to cheer back in the cheerleading days. But this was for a very special reason. Our dear fried, Cliff Pennington, (I mentioned in another post about him) is a professional baseball player. Before being drafted from college, he played ball with Drew. In fact, the boys have played ball together since they were little boys. The high school was having a special ceremony on Saturday to retire Cliff's baseball number. Drew didn't want to miss it and neither did any of his friends. It was incredibly special to be there for Cliff and it was really fun for Drew to show off Charlotte to his old baseball coach and all of his buddies.

All the boys and their baseball coach

The boys and their womens :)

Cliff, Missy & Brady Pennington



After the ceremony at the field, Charlotte and I headed back to my mother-in-law's to take a nap before the evening festivities began. Another one of Drew's buddies had a birthday party planned for that night. Nick was turning 30! I fed Charlotte and headed over there just as it was getting dark. They had two live bands and a catered dinner. So much fun!! It was so nice to have a little break from little C. I left after a few hours to go home and feed C again (I forgot my pump...) and then headed back over to the party. We had such a fun time! I know Drew especially did being with all of his good friends again... we really miss living in Corpus with everyone.

Me and Teresa.. LOVE this girl!

Happy 30th Nick!





The next morning was Sunday... we headed over to have church with my sister and her family and to hang out at their house for the Superbowl. We love that one of my sister's still lives in Corpus and we get to see them when we come home to visit. My niece and nephew are growing up way too fast... they loved being around Charlotte and hanging out with her (I loved seeing them with her too... when Kaitlyn is with Charlotte it's like deja vu of myself when Kaitlyn was a baby).

Kaitlyn and Charlotte

Dustin and Charlotte... OMG he's going to be 15 this summer! Ahh!







Monday was a fun filled day spent with my sweet sister. Amy had the day off so we shopped all day and lunched. I love spending quality time with her and although we are 12 years apart when we are together it's not like we are so different in age. She is one of my best friends and I just love her so much! Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of her with me and C :(

Charlotte and I had such a fun little mini vacation in CC! We can't wait to go back in a few weeks for one of my dear friend's weddings.

Me and my girl :)

Three Months

 

My little Valentine,

 Again I cannot believe another month has gone by so quickly. You are 3 months old now. WOW!

We've hit some big milestones within the past few days and you amaze me more every single day! Daddy and I are having the time of our lives with you. We are looking forward to lots of exciting events this month.. starting with visiting Daddy's family in Louisiana and meeting all of your cousins and Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather in a few weeks and of course celebrating your first Valentine's Day. We fall in love more and more with you little angel, keep on growing and making us smile.

 

Love,

Mama

 

3  month Stats

Weight: 12.11 (we measured on our friend's scale)

Length: not sure because we didn't visit the dr this month
Head: ?

Eating: still nursing exclusively and going 2.5-3 hours still during the day and a little bit longer at night (still not sleeping through the night!) You are however extremely fast now with nursing... 10 minutes max and you're done :)

Bedtime: we have consistently followed your bedtime routine with nursing around 6:30ish/7, bath, massage, swaddle and nurse again every hour until Mama and Daddy go to bed. We are hoping that it will tank you up and we can get you sleeping longer at night. The longest you sleep is occasionally a 5 hour stretch but consistently it's about 3.5-4 hours.

Awake: you are awake a lot more these days, about an hour to an hour and half after each feeding and then you start rubbing your eyes and get fussy. That's my clue to get you down for a nap or put you in your swing. You LOVE to sit up these days like a big girl. You like your bumbo and sitting in our laps facing outward. You also LOVE the baby bjorn. We've used it to go to the grocery store, target trips, or walking to get the mail.

Naps: typically will take 2 good naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with several little cat naps throughout the day.

Diapers: size 2

Clothes: 0-3 months and 3 months

Favorites: your swing, paci, being swaddled, snuggling with mama and daddy, your sister lucy, car rides and strolling in your stroller, your activity mat, being rocked, bathtime, sitting UP, your bumbo, facing outward in your baby bjorn, sitting in our laps facing out, and mama singing funny songs to you

Latest Tricks: smiling at everyone, sitting UP in your bumbo, rolling over a lot when we put you on your tummy (you just officially did it two days ago), cooing, "talking" and rubbing your eyes to let mama know it's time for a nap.